


Memento

by Anariana



Category: Dragon Age, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Family, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-03
Updated: 2016-10-03
Packaged: 2018-08-18 09:03:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8156609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anariana/pseuds/Anariana
Summary: EDITED: Changed some slight wording as to not lead to assumption that Quen's father is the Keeper for their clan. Haleir is the First for their clan.
Also, Quen was not originally from Clan Lavellan. I will cover that in future stories I write.





	

**Author's Note:**

> EDITED: Changed some slight wording as to not lead to assumption that Quen's father is the Keeper for their clan. Haleir is the First for their clan.
> 
> Also, Quen was not originally from Clan Lavellan. I will cover that in future stories I write.

Quen had always loved his mother’s necklace.  It was a moonstone, worn on a simple leather cord around Laisa’s slender neck.  Quen’s father, Halier, had made it for her when he proposed.

When Quen was born, his mother immediately took him in her arms and walked outside of the tent to stand under the full moon. His newborn cries had softened as he stared, mesmerized by the moonlight hitting the white stone, which added a heavenly glow to her fair face.

As she handed him to his father, he had whined, stretching his tiny arms towards the necklace. Both parents had laughed, his mother removing the cord and placing the stone in his small hands.

The moonstone was pearly white with hints of silver and blue under its round, smooth, and shiny surface. When Quen first held it as a baby, he could barely keep hold of the large rock, even though it was nice and small in his mother’s and father’s large hands. His eyes lit up in delight, as the light of the moon seemed to follow the stone. It was truly a magical moment for the infant elf.

The day Quen experienced his first thunderstorm; he was terrified by the loud noises outside as the heavy rain pelleted the hides of his family’s tents. As a baby, he did not yet understand that the clan was safe from lightning strikes because his father, and their Keeper with the other clan mages had placed magical wards over the perimeter. The booming roars frightened him, and he let out a wail. His mother hurriedly came into the tent, soaking wet from helping stabilizing the clan’s Halla. The young elf whom Laisa had given charge to care for Quen looked at her sheepishly, unable to quiet down the crying baby.

Stripping off her soaked clothes, Laisa scooped up Quen in her arms, cradling him close to her naked breast. She began to sing softly, just loud enough to be heard above the rainstorm. Quen paused for a moment to look at his mother’s face in the lantern-light, the stone on her neck giving off a golden gleam. His mother held him closer so he could touch the stone, focusing his attention on her necklace instead of the noises of the thunder.

Haleir smiled when Laisa told him she had given her necklace to their son. The stone helped comfort the young elf when his parents weren’t around to do the job, as the two of them each had many clan duties to attend to. Whenever he felt scared or overwhelmed, he would focus on the stone, rubbing his thumb on the smooth surface. 

When Quen was five, he rubbed his mother’s swollen round belly, noting aloud how it reminding him of her moonstone. Both his mother and father laughed.

His mother’s labor was a rough one. The midwife and healers could do little as Laisa screamed in pain, holding Haleir’s hand in a death-grip as she was on her hands and knees. Quen watched with frightened eyes from the corner of the tent. Rags continued to be soaked in blood as Laisa cried. The young elf then bolted out of the healer’s tent, across the clan grounds, and into his family’s own. During the confusion of his mother’s water breaking, he had left behind her necklace on his sleeping pelts. Snatching the leather cord up, he made his way back to his mother. Calling out to grab his parent’s attention, he held out the necklace. Laisa snatched the cord in such a flurry that the leather snapped. His mother gave him a quick peck on the forehead before continuing to breathe deeply, the moonstone clutched in one hand while her husband’s hand was in the other.

Unlike the time when she had given birth to Quen, this time Laisa was exhausted from the many hours of intense labor of birthing his sister, Riella. She collapsed onto the healer’s bed pelt and fell deeply asleep. As Quen helped his father wash his newborn sister, he asked Haleir where he had gotten the stone. His father smiled at him, and told him he would show him someday.

It was however another three years before Quen’s father was able to show him the source of the moonstone. The clan had journeyed to the Exalted Plains, a place Quen and his sister had never visited before. The first night after the clan had set up camp on the lands of their elven ancestors, Quen woke to his father’s hand on his shoulder. His mother and sister were fast asleep under the animal pelts as the young elf left the tent with Haleir.

Quen followed his father past the clan perimeter, the two shrouded by the shadows of the dark clouds covering the moonlight. The two elves’ eyes glowed under the cover of darkness, allowing them to see in the night. Quen watched his father walk ahead of him, using his mage staff as a walking stick. The two followed the path of the river that the clan had camped beside. Many long silent minutes passed until Haleir turned to follow a smaller stream that branched off from the main river. Soon after, the two reached a small pool with a tiny waterfall cascading into it.

Haleir raised his staff, summoning a wisp of light that floated on the surface of the water. In the pool, various small stones began to react to his magic. Haleir told Quen about how he had found this pool while he was collecting herbs. He helped Quen swim in the water and dive down to find a rock of his choosing. In the wisp-light under the water, Quen’s eyes fell upon a clear purple stone with flecks of gold. After collecting the smooth crystal, Quen handed the stone to his father, who used his magic to create a hole in it for a leather cord. As his father handed the newly crafted necklace to Quen, he told his son to someday give the stone to someone whom he would love very dearly.

Many years later, Quen woke up in his soft bed in Skyhold. He looked over at Dorian, who wore the leather-corded purple-stone necklace around his neck, and smiled before leaning over to kiss him awake.


End file.
